Nineteen year old Eddie Karlsson – JTG has certainly made an impact on the 2013 FIM Trial World Championship, and in doing so now has some people in the paddock predicting him to be a real star of the future. The young Swedish rider heads to the British Trial Grand Prix this weekend, the penultimate stop on the current tour, citing the venue as being to his liking and similar to his own training ground back in Scandinavia. Although no relation to Ulf Karlson who lifted the FIM Trial World Championship back in 1980, Eddie has already re-ignited thoughts of recapturing that kind of success amongst his fans back in Sweden thanks to his performances this season.
Having missed the opening two flyaway events due to a lack of budget, Eddie then suffered cruel luck when he suffered a mechanical problem that ruled him out of finishing on the opening day in Andorra, as the series returned back to Europe. However with those problems behind him Karlsson registered a morale boosting twelfth place on day two in Andorra, before going one position higher in Spain a week later. Eddie had always set his target to break into the top ten this year, and he reached his initial goal in the Italian mountains when he scored an amazing ninth spot and took the scalp of some of the more established World Pro riders.
Whilst this moment marked a landmark in Eddie’s Trial career, he was not always destined to follow this route as he explained. “I only came to Trial at the age of nine because I stopped riding motocross which I had been doing since I was three years old. The reason I stopped motocross was that I made a big crash and needed to have a serious operation on my stomach. Since changing sports I have never looked back, and the change was OK for me as when I was younger I had also made bicycle Trial too, so I already had some of the basic techniques.”
“My early Trial days were at local events in Sweden, and then when I started to beat these guys on a regular basis I went to the European youth championship when I was just twelve years old. Here I went directly to the top class, riding with older guys, but by the end of the season I was second in the series.”
“The next step for me was to go to the World Championship in 2011 as a 125cc rider. I made two podium results during the early part of that season, and then I finally won my first Trial GP in this class at the final round in France.”
“Last season I then went directly to the World Pro class as I thought this was the best for my progress and was the best way to spend the time and budget that we have available. It was a tough first year, but I expected that and although I injured my shoulder at the first GP in France I still managed to learn quite a lot.”
“The offer from Jordi Tarres to ride JTG for him this season was the best deal I could hope for at this stage, I need to thank him for the opportunity, as he is a really good guy to work with. Italy was a special moment for all of us, me, my Dad and also for Jordi he was so pleased to get this result. The messages I received from back home after the Trial made me realise just how important this result was for me and the team.”
After his disappointing finish at the last round in the Czech Republic Karlsson will be hoping he can turn his fortunes around this weekend. “I am really looking forward to going to Penrith, I remember the place very well from last year. The venue and the rocks are very like I train on back in Sweden. I am just hoping for a little rain to give me the perfect conditions, so I can take the chance to get my best result of my career in Great Britain. Next year I hope to be top five, but at the moment I think seventh or eighth is the best I can hope for this weekend.”
Photos: trialscentral.com